Neglected puppies left by W.Va. road

December 01, 2007|By MATTHEW UMSTEAD

MARTINSBURG, W.VA. - Berkeley County Animal Control officials hope to find who is responsible for abandoning 15 puppies that were discovered Thursday morning covered in feces in three cardboard boxes along Stuckey Street in Martinsburg, W.Va..

Each of the boxes contained five, 3 to 4-month old pups, One box actually was on the road near Capital Heights, according to supervising Berkeley County Animal Control officer Donna McMahan.

A handwritten note on half a sheet of white paper taped to one of the boxes said "mother died please take care of babies," McMahan said.

A man who discovered the puppies while on his morning walk was about to ignore the large, brown, duct-taped boxes he noticed in front of 148 Stuckey Court when two heads popped out, McMahan said.

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The puppies, many of them pure-bred, were found with circular lesions on the back of their necks and were diagnosed with coccidia, a treatable infection caused by a single-cell parasite spread through feces of an animal, McMahan said.

Ten of the puppies were taken to Berkeley County Humane Society when they were rescued on Thursday. The others are receiving foster care elsewhere, but McMahan said people have already lined up to adopt the dogs, which include a miniature schnauzer, two West Highland terriers, two Yorkshire terriers, a sheltie and several white puppies, which may be a poodle mix, officials have determined.

"All these breeds are fluffy," McMahan said.

McMahan said she was somewhat surprised by the discovery, particularly because pure-bred dogs are more valuable than mixed breeds.

"I don't know what to think," McMahan said when asked where the puppies may have been prior to being found.

Berkeley County Humane Society board president Shari Persad said she was upset that someone would treat the dogs like "trash" instead of simply taking them to a shelter.

Anyone with information about the abandoned puppies may call Berkeley County Animal Control at 304-263-4729.